— Haruki Murakami From “Norwegian Wood.”

12/2/22

3:46 : late update ik.sorry. im taking notes rn. i hate this class with a passion and my teacher actually sucks. she makes me so mad bruh omfg. but wtv. gonna be working hard tonight. my mouth sore is finally gone so i feel so much better u have no clue. i got this tonight. gonna be working my butt off. no rehearsal or anything. so whooo. we do have something that i might volunteer for but i probably wont. dont feel like it. god these notes r gonna be a grade i am annoyed. 

6:23 : omg its crazy im typing after 3 pm yayyy. anyway i had a pretty good day i just gotta work on my hw n stuff. i researched some gardening stuff (bc ive been wanting to get into it. specifically edible gardening)  imma be working on my music for a while and try to figure out how to do it. I PLAYED BASSOON FOR THE FIRST TIME TODAY AAAAH. i am not gonna lie i dont even know like what the parts of the bassoon is called so.... lmfao i need to do some studying hahaha. i literally need to practice super hard this weekend so imma go rn. alright ill update on monday :). bye 

Tailoring your own clothes

So a little while back, I reblogged a post about tailoring your own clothes. The gist of it was this (IIRC):

Someone was wondering why even people on TV with non-mainstream-TV-approved body shapes always look so good in their clothes. 

The long and short of it is: their bodies aren’t better than yours. They just have people tailoring every single piece of clothing they wear to flatter their figures. 

Off-the-rack clothes aren’t made to look good on most people’s bodies. The advice in the post was buy clothes that fit the largest part of you, even if they’re too big elsewhere, and have them altered to fit. 

That post hit me like a lightning bolt. I have a curvy figure. I’m not plus-sized, but I’ve got a small waist and large hips. Which is great in certain types of clothes (dresses, mainly), but means that if I don’t wear fitted t-shirts or blouses–if they fall straight–I just look sort of… boxy. I need clothes that go in at the waist. 

My grandma was an amazing seamstress, so when I needed clothes fixed, she was around to tailor them. When she got into her 90s and her eyesight was too diminished for her to sew, we started going to a woman in our neighborhood who’d lost her husband and had started doing alterations to bring in some extra income. OF COURSE I looked good back then. I had a tailor.

Then I moved away from my parents without really knowing How To Adult and would go to Target to get clothes and just get depressed by them and never realized how much of an advantage having people who could tailor my clothes (and, you know, parents to pay for having them tailored…) had been. 

So. I have a 1970s Singer Fashion Mate sewing machine that is designed to weather the apocalypse–I got it at Goodwill for $20. 

And I have begun researching how to tailor your own clothes. If anyone else was wondering about that after that last post, here are some helpful links I’ve discovered. 

When and Why to Get it Tailored - This article is (annoyingly) set up as a slideshow, and focuses on getting a professional to do your alterations rather than doing them yourself, but it’s got some good advice nonetheless, such as:

Basic alterations that can make a huge difference, such as adding lingerie loops to keep bra straps in place (SERIOUSLY MY FAVORITE DRESSES FROM HIGH SCHOOL ALL HAD THESE AND WHY DID THEY DISAPPEAR IN EVERYTHING I WEAR NOW?), adding snaps between the buttons on button-down shirts for larger-busted women (you know how sometimes they gap? there’s help for that), etc.

Average prices (at least on the East Coast) for basic alterations: replacing a zipper will run you about $20, while tailoring pants or a skirt to fit your hips and butt will be about $35.

If you want to get a garment made of special materials (leather, fur, beaded/embroidered silk) altered, go to someone who specializes in working with that material.

What NOT to try to alter.

How to find a tailor.

Having that perfect dress that you love so much duplicated and how much that will cost.

Learning Alterations - Great step-by-step tutorials on basic alterations like how to take in the waist of jeans (essential if you have a smaller waist and larger hips, because it’ll stop them from riding down every time you bend over or sit down).

Tailoring Ready-to-Wear - A full-on online course from Craftsy (costs $24.99) with videos and individual lessons on everything from hemming pants to lengthening them to altering shoulders and armholes to adding hidden zippers.

Plus-Sized Fitting and Design - Another online course (this one’s $34.99) that looks like it focuses both on alterations and on actually making clothes that are flattering to plus-sized forms.

Alterations and Tailoring 101 - Not a how-to post, but this one has a lot of useful information and ideas, such as identifying which garments to alter.

Alterations Needed blog - A whole blog on this stuff, with a lot of detailed how-tos. It focuses on fixing things to fit if you’re shorter than average/petite, but contains a lot of great advice for anyone (like an entry on why button-down shirts often bulge in back and how to fix it). 

Pinch and Pin your Shirt - Super-quick video tutorial (aimed at gentlemen), but useful for anyone who wears button-down shirts on how to fix a baggy shirt. 

If I find other helpful tutorials, I’ll add them. If you know of any, please let me know!

to all my researchers, students and people in general who love learning: if you don't know this already, i'm about to give you a game changer

connectedpapers

the basic rundown is: you use the search bar to enter a topic, scientific paper name or DOI. the website then offers you a list of papers on the topic, and you choose the one you're looking for/most relevant one. from here, it makes a tree diagram of related papers that are clustered based on topic relatability and colour-coded by time they were produced!

for example: here i search "human B12"

i go ahead and choose the first paper, meaning my graph will be based around it and start from the topics of "b12 levels" and "fraility syndrome"

here is the graph output! you can scroll through all the papers included on the left, and clicking on each one shows you it's position on the chart + will pull up details on the paper on the right hand column (title, authors, citations, abstract/summary and links where the paper can be found)

you get a few free graphs a month before you have to sign up, and i think the free version gives you up to 5 a month. there are paid versions but it really depends how often you need to use this kinda thing.

We love a ally

10:42 : i woke up like 2 hours ago maybe? i cant keep time hahaha. anyway imma go and eat a little and then start practicing. i cleaned up my room a bit thank god lol. i also practiced for like 2 1/2-3 hours i didnt keep specific time but i am so proud of myself because i am getting close to mastering the part, which is really hard for me so YAY. :)) . also btw if anyone wants to send asks that would be awesome; ill answer anything (except personal stuff im not dumb lol) im trying to be stealthhhhh like a spyyyyyyyy :) . ive been working on my music too and i gotta study my music theory and do my laundry ( and clean some more -_-) anyway i should probably go and eat lmfao. alright laterrrrrrrrr (also i got the day OFFFFFFFFFFF YUHHHHHHHHH)

Homesteading survival knowledge

Growing Food:

The basics of Growing Food

Crops to grow for Maximum Production

Seed Starting Plan

Grow transplants for free

How to get Seeds for Free

How to find good soil for Free

Amending the Soil

How to Collect Seeds

Re-potting and care for tomato transplants

Growing dry beans

Growing Garlic

How to grow a lot of Leek

Plants going to Seed Explained

Food you can grow and eat in the Winter

Climate change and Food Security

Plant Lemon Trees from Seed

Why is rain much more effective than watering?

Stashing Food

Storing the Food from your Garden

Living in nature and food conservation

Making a Meal from foraged and Garden Food in Winter

Sun-drying Strawberries

Sun-drying Cherry Tomatoes

Citrus Tips

Canning

Blackberry Jam

Strawberry Jam

Salsa (tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic)

Đuveđ (mixed vegetables preserve)

Ajvar (preserved peppers)

Preserved sugar Cherries

Foraging: 

Edible Mushrooms that grow on trees

Edible Wild Plants to Forage for in Spring

Make Honey out of Dandelions

How to cook with Nettle

Incredible value of Pine Needles

Herbalism

Rose Water

On herbal infusions and poison tea

Herbs to Collect for Tea

How to safely make Elderberry Syrup

Yarrow and Lemon Balm

Basic Medicinal Herbal Tea Uses

Tree Care:

How to grow trees

Where are the Tree Roots?

What is Root Flare

Tree Pruning Mistakes

Types of Pruning cuts

How to Prune Correctly

Other:

Building a Cob House

How to make Earthen Floors

Cooking with minimal use of heat

Processing Forest Clay

How to hand-work clay

How to make laundry detergent out of conkers

Creating baskets out of Newspapers

How to keep your space cool during heat waves

How trees create a living atmosphere

How to get rid of ants

Survival Recipes

What garden plants can be used as poison

im not crying u are

So…how was ur day ?

The ring might’ve switched owners :D

10:22 : apparenly i messed up :(. my post that i scheduled didnt frickin save but wtv lol. yesterday was pretty cool bc my mom came with me to band (being deadnamed wasnt fun but whatever) and i was laughing at her hahahah. i also had my sax lesson yesterday and my teacher basically layed into me real hard :( about how i need to actually apply myself and practice like (as he said) "as long as it takes for you to get it" (3 hours lol). i feel like he actually knocked some sense into me.

2:38 : so to finish my rant from earlier, since dr wits knocked some sense into me, i went home relazed for like an hour and then i practiced my saxophone even more (1 more hour). it was an okay night. i ate some good food and just felt generally content. i have chosen a solo (for solo & ensemble) and i really really like it. im excited to learn it. also i am in chemistry and i hate it. im dying. this teacher doesnt even teach us bruh, but im so smart i figure it all out suuuuupppeerrrr fast :) . i have so much stuff to do but i can get it done, imma use my planner and do everything that i need to do :) .

Amazon’s casting choices don’t reflect the true racial diversity in Tolkien’s works and are focused on tokenism over real efforts to tackle the flaws in the text and make an inclusive vision of Arda

Amazon’s one major POC actress is playing a role that canonically involves her throne and her power being stolen from her by a genocidal colonizer who wants to exterminate the religious minority she’s part of

Amazon fired their Tolkien consultant and their unsafe set conditions caused the injuries of stuntpeople

Amazon as a company is unethical, directly opposed to progressive causes, and openly emotionally manipulating viewers to get them to watch the show

Amazon has done more real harm to actual people of color and other marginalized groups than their efforts to include nonwhite actors in relatively small or stereotypical roles can address

Amazon’s promotional materials for this show treat fans of color as props to further their agenda

REPOST THIS ANYWHERE YOU LIKE AS OFTEN AS YOU LIKE.

12/13/22

11:50: in my debate class. i got some work done so very happy. on the verge of failing 4 of my classes for the semester but i got this. i just have to talk to my teachers. im going to tutorials

2:51: bruh. i went to tutorials i basically have to write an essay for one class and teacher fixed my grade for english whoooo!!! i have to fix 2 more of my grades so i think ill be fine :)). i sprained my ankle this weekend at a christmas party while playing tag with my friend. i blame him so now its his job to tie my shoes. lmfao. my bf didnt come because he cant handle being around my family. he gets really annoyed and all pissy about it. it really disappoints me and my family absolutely hates it. i wish he didnt get so nervous around people and i wish he didnt get so annoyed around my familY AND MY FRIENDS. its just stresfull, but i know its gonna be okay. anyway ttyl ill update laterrrr